he says the animals are part of a fainting goat adventure documentary he's producing. of course. of course. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. i turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, the senate goes nuclear. >> everyone knows what is going on is absolutely unfair and wrong. >> they will pay a very, very heavy price for it. >> senate democrats break with tradition and impose a so-called nuclear option to defeat gop stalling tactics on nominations. republicans say democrats are breaking the rules and warn the move will come back to haunt them. shocking new remarks from iran's supreme leader. do his words threaten a proposed international deal to slow iran's nuclear program? and george zimmerman's estranged wife says she has doubts about what really happened the night trayvon martin was killed. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

it's the equivalent of a legislative mushroom cloud now rising over the capitol. senate democrats today finally triggered the so-called nuclear option, ramming through a rule change that lets them easily break republican filibusters. that will ease the path for the president's nominees, repeatedly blocked by gop stalling tactics. but republicans are furious. they say this will come back to haunt democrats when the balance of power changes. we have full coverage of this landmark historic move today. brianna keilar is standing by over at the white house. let's begin with our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash. >> reporter: well, for years, just the threat of this major rules change known as the nuclear option was enough to force the parties to compromise, because the alternative was thought to be mutually assured destruction. but now the democrats have launched and republicans are all but threatening to retaliate.

it's an historic change democrats say will help fix a broken system. >> it's time to change the senate before this institution becomes obsolete. >> reporter: republicans argue it will make washington gridlock worse. >> it puts a chill on the entire united states senate. >> reporter: senate democrats voted to lower the threshold to break a filibuster from 60 votes to 51 votes, a simple majority. it strips the minority party's ability to block a president's nominees, called the nuclear option for good reason. just a few years ago, even democratic leader harry reid said he wouldn't do it, saying it would be -- >> a black chapter in the history of the senate. >> reporter: so what about now? why isn't this a black chapter in the history of the senate? >> things have changed dramatically since 2005. dramatically. for the last four and a half years, they have done everything they can to deny the fact that obama was elected and then re-elected. >> reporter: translation? gop obstruction is

unprecedented. to back that up, democrats point to statistics from the nonpartisan congressional research service. in the history of the country, there have been 168 filibusters of presidential nominees. about half, 82, happened during the obama administration. >> in summary, this is a power grab. >> reporter: angry republicans don't necessarily dispute democrats' statistics about nominees they have blocked. instead, they point to how many judges they have confirmed. 215, and rejected five. when it comes to the fight that democrats called the last straw over vacancies in the d.c. circuit court of appeals, the republican leader argues democrats are manufacturing a crisis to distract from the obama care debacle. >> a fake fight over judges that >> reporter: democrats say they get that this benefits them now that they're in the majority but certainly the tables will be turned the day that they los that majority status, but they essentially shrug their shoulders and say that this is a

risk they are willing to take, because in the words of one senior democrat, oth option is continued obstruction. wolf? >> what a day it is. dana, stand by. president obama also backed the senate democrats' nuclear option, accusing republicans of what he called an unprecedented pattern of obstruction. let's go live to our senior white house correspondent, brianna keilar. the president came into the briefing room and made a very strong statement. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. he indicated and we have heard from white house officials that he is very frustrated and has been for some time by being unable to fulfill these positions in his cabinet -- not cabinet, in his administration, and these court vacancies and by the numbers, he's had more of these appointments blocked by the opposing party than any other president. here's how he explained it. >> it's not what our founders envisioned, a deliberate determin effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the

merits, just refight the results of an election is not normal. and for the sake of future generations, we can't let it become normal. the vote today i think is an indication that a majority ever senators believe as i believe that enough is enough. >> reporter: the last few weeks were really, it appears, the breaking point. three appointments by president obama to the d.c. circuit court of appeals which because of the important federal matters that it handles, is considered second only to the supreme court in importance so that was really the breaking point, and this drama, i will say, also does create a distraction which the administration of course welcomes from the obama care rollout which has been dragging down president obama's approvals to record lows in some polls. >> the president had a different perspective, brianna, when he was a united states senator, right? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. it's always interesting to have a president who has a record in the senate when they get into fights with congress, and the president does on this specific case. in 2005, he took to the senate

floor and spoke out against the nuclear option. here's how he explained why the minority party should have the option of this tool of the filibuster. >> if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party and the millions of americans who ask us to be their voice, i fear that the already partisan atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything. that doesn't serve anyone's best interest and it certainly isn't what the patriots who founded this democracy had in mind. we owe the people who sent us here more than that. we owe them much more. >> reporter: now, that may seem hypocritical to some people watching the change over the years, but white house officials insist in this case that it's different, that this ballooning opposition that you've seen over the years really tips the scale in favor of the nuclear option. i will say one other important question here that is at this

point still unanswered. does the president see this as a temporary fix or a permanent solution, i asked white house spokesman josh earnest that at the briefing today and he wouldn't say, wolf. >> all right. brianna, thanks very much. so will the democrats' nuclear option fix a broken senate or lay waste to two centuries of tradition in the senate? let's discuss what's going on. joining us, cnn senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin, chief political analyst, gloria borger along with buzzfeed washington bureau chief, john stanton. you think this may be, with the exception of the affordable care act, one of the most important lasting legacies of president obama, what happened today. explain. >> the district of -- the d.c. circuit is the second most important court in the country. president obama has nominated five people to that court. four of them have been filibustered. as a result of today's decision, three of those four will be

confirmed. that is the farm team for the supreme court. that's where democratic presidents get their nominees to the supreme court often. this is the court that weighs whether most federal laws are constitutional. obama will be able to put his stamp on this court as a result of today's decision and those judges on this court and around the country will serve for decades after president obama leaves office. so this is an enormously important vote, especially at a time when congress isn't passing any laws anyway. so judicial confirmations is about all they do. >> it's not just judicial confirmations, he's only going to need 51 votes for confirmation, but all executive branch nominations with the exception of supreme court justices. gloria, this is a huge political moment right now, because there has already been a poisonous atmosphere up on capitol hill, and so many people now believe it's only going to get worse. >> right. i think the partisanship, i

mean, we didn't believe this could occur but the partisanship is going to increase exponentially, because republicans will now say okay, we might filibuster everything else. it's clear that the democrats decided and i think the base of the party was quite involved in this. i think the base of the party said we need to get these nominees through. this is part of the presidential legacy. so they understand they're going to get a payoff up front. but what comes down the road is another question. i also think that today increased the stakes of the 2014 midterm election, because now you're going to have both bases really activated on this particular issue of judicial nominees and it's going to get out the democratic base, it's going to get out the republican base. i think the control of the senate now becomes more important, if that's possible. >> the republicans, john, they were already pretty energized because of the affordable care act, obama care, but this will further energize that republican

base looking forward to that midterm election next year. i assume you agree. >> absolutely. i think if you look historically, judicial nominations have always been a major issue for the republican base during the clinton administration and during the bush administration, this notion of judicial activism was very much a thing the republicans were able to use to turn out their people. it's interesting to see democrats over the last few years starting to pick up that same issue on their side and their base now becoming similarly interested in the judiciary where for a long time, except for on abortion, you didn't see a lot of interest in that. now i think both sides will be fighting much harder on this. >> here's a number to keep in mind, it's a number republicans keep using, but 33 democratic senators have never served in the minority. so the feeling is they're not going to know what it's like when the table is turned on them and when they've got to abide by this rule. >> i want to play these clips, because as we have been pointing out, there's a lot of hypocrisy

going on in washington these days, not to be a big surprise. here's harry reid speaking in 2008 on this very sensitive issue, and here's -- and we'll follow that with mitch mcconnell speaking on the nuclear option in 2005. listen to this. >> as long as i'm the leader, the answer's no. i think we should just forget that. that is a black chapter in the history of the senate. i hope we never, ever get to that again, because i really do believe it will ruin our country. >> the current senate majority intends to do what the majority in the senate has often done, reform senate procedure by a simple majority vote. despite the incredulous protestations of our democratic colleagues, the senate has repeatedly adjusted its rules as circumstances dictate. >> so let me bring john back in and get your reaction to that.

you heard harry reid say this will ruin our country, to invoke the nuclear option, which is exactly what he did today, invoke the nuclear option. and you heard mitch mcconnell say get rid of that 60 vote requirement, 51, a simple majority, is what is necessary, which is what he hates today. so what's your reaction? >> there is a certain amount of hypocrisy i think to it, although when harry reid says that things have changed, he's right. they have changed over the last eight years. this is symptomatic of a broader problem in washington. there is no appetite anymore for bipartisanship. the number of people inclined towards that in both parties has dwindled significantly. for every farm bill vote, you know, or end of vote in the senate, there are dozens of bills that have no traction at all because neither side is at all interested in working together. i think this is part of this bigger problem that is going on right now in washington. >> jeffrey, this is going to enable the president over the next three years, assuming the

democrats retain the majority in the senate after 2014, to have a lot of lifetime appointments on critically important courts out there. he's going to get those approved with 51 votes, no longer 60 required. >> absolutely. this is the potentially biggest legacy that barack obama could have in his second term. the house of representatives is not passing anything that barack obama is proposing. so he's not going to pass bills. but he can nominate judges. he can fill administrative agencies and now, he only needs 50 votes to do it. can they keep control of the senate? this is a vote of confidence, of the democratic majority, that they're going to keep their majority but they're also saying you know what, if we lose, we lose. the senate has to function by majority rule, not a 60% rule and if we lose, we'll have to live with that. >> and the president today when

he came out, essentially said what he was saying during the whole shutdown argument and defund obama care argument, he said that you shouldn't want to refight the results of an election. so what the president said is look, we had this election, you elected me, we passed obama care and of course, you want me to appoint judges. that's why you elected me, that's what i intend to do. >> gloria, thank you. jeffrey, thanks. john stanton, thanks to you as well. up next, republican senator john mccain warns that democrats will pay a very heavy price for triggering this nuclear option. he will join us in our next hour. tweet us your questions using the hash tag sitroom. and our new poll just in to "the situation room" shows what americans think about a proposed nuclear deal with iran. there could be some stunning comments coming out as a result of what's going on, including from iran's supreme leader. you will hear what he has to

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sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping let's get back to our top story. senate democrats have ended decades of tradition, imposed what they call the nuclear option that allows them to break republican filibusters with a simple majority vote, making it easier to end a blockade on the president's nominees. republicans across democrats of breaking the rules and they warn that one day, the shoe will be on the other foot. just ahead at the top of the hour, senator john mccain will be my guest here in "the situation room." lots to discuss with him. other news we're following.

the united states and other world powers are trying to take a real nuclear option out of the hands of iran, moving closer to a deal aimed at slowing its nuclear program. our latest poll, by the way, just in to "the situation room" shows america strongly favors a deal with iran. we will get to that in a moment. but stunning new remarks by iran's supreme leader raising new concerns. in a televised speech, the ayatollah called the prime minister a rabid dog. jim sciutto is covering the negotiations in geneva and is joining us now. jim, how are the ayatollah's comments playing in the midst of this sensitive moment in these negotiations? >> reporter: well, it's a problem. from the start of these talks, american diplomats, western diplomats, have talked about how iran's tone had changed. it's become serious, constructive, even friendly.

this of course stands in sharp contrast to that. the ayatollah calling benjamin netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, the rabid dog of the region, saying we will quote, slap our opponents in the face in a way that they won't forget. we know that some of this, a lot of this is meant for a domestic audience, but really, a sense from american and western diplomats here that this goes too far. here's what samantha power, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., said on "new day" this morning. >> let me obviously condemn the comments of the ayatollah which are abhorrent. what i will say is that we have decades of mistrust partly on the basis of comments like this, partly on the basis of the continued steady progress toward a nuclear weapon. >> reporter: you talk to diplomats here, they say we have our work to do, we're working on the nuclear deal. they're trying to shut that out but they have to sell this deal at home, where there is opposition. so those comments make it more difficult. >> they certainly do.

there's a new cnn/orc poll just out that shows support for a potential iran nuclear deal, 56% according to this poll would favor such a deal, 39% oppose it. how close are they? how much progress do they seem to be making, because the indications going into this new round of talks in geneva was it could be any day, maybe as soon as this weekend. >> reporter: it's possible, certainly. you talk to the iranian delegation, they said this morning that some trust had been restored in the talks. you speak to the americans, they say the talks were serious, constructive, that they moved the ball forward, but also, that they still have to narrow some differences here. i spoke to a member of the iranian delegation just a few minutes ago as he was leaving and he looked at me and said it was tough today, they're getting down to the brass tacks, the details of these issues, and that's really the toughest part of the negotiations. >> one interesting note, we just got a statement, jim, i will read it to our viewers because it's a bipartisan statement.

senator john mccain will be joining us later, among others, including bob menendez, the democratic chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, they have just issued a statement saying a nuclear weapons capable iran presents a grave threat to the national security of the united states and its allies, and we are committed to preventing iran from acquiring this capability. we will work together to reconcile democratic and republican proposals over the coming weeks and to pass bipartisan iran sanctions legislation as soon as possible. it's significant because if the senate, if congress were to go ahead and strengthen sanctions at this time, intensify those sanctions, the administration believes that could be a deal killer as far as a nuclear arrangement with iran. >> reporter: absolutely. administration officials tell me, they say listen, this threatens our good faith in these negotiations, not only for the americans with the iranians but even the american side with its european partners, that if new sanctions are added, that would threaten good faith.

but it's one reason they feel they really have time pressure here because they believe they can head off those sanctions until the next legislative session next year, so they feel these two weeks are really crucial and that's why they feel in many ways they are under the gun. no guarantee they are going to make a deal, but it is a pressure point for them. >> yeah, these members of congress want to increase the sanctions, increase the pressure, whereas the administration if it goes along with this deal would ease some of those sanctions, at least for the next six months or so during this interim period to test iranian intentions. jim sciutto in geneva will get us the latest as it comes in. john mccain will be joining us live in the next hour here in "the situation room." there may be a last minute hitch in the security deal that would keep thousands of u.s. troops in afghanistan for many years to come. it's now in the hands of the afghan tribal elders but the president, hamid karzai, is suddenly stonewalling. our foreign affairs reporter is here and joining us with more. what is the very latest?

we assumed they had virtually worked out a deal to allow thousands of u.s. troops to stay in afghanistan maybe for as long as a decade, even though they were all supposed to be gone by the end of next year. >> that's right. president karzai said he would sign this agreement that was reached in the last couple days if this loya jirga approved it. now he's saying well, i'm going to wait until after the afghan election and that's something that is coming in april and that's something the united states, the white house, saying they just can't accept because they need to make a lot of plans, if they're going to take all the u.s. troops out by the end of the year, they need to do that, they need to work with their allies and they don't want this to be part of the afghan election. what if president karzai's successor comes in, wants to renegotiate the whole thing? >> say they get a deal. would it keep literally thousands of american troops in afghanistan, maybe 5,000, 10,000, 15,000, some nato troops as well, for another ten years until 2024 at a cost of billions

of dollars to u.s. taxpayers every year? is that the deal the administration is considering? >> well, this agreement goes hand in hand with a strategic partnership with the afghan government which ends in 2024. so this partnership, this security agreement that we're talking about, was really weirdly worded and kind of goes with that. but the administration is saying they have absolutely no scenario where they can see that u.s. troops are staying there through 2024. they just can't envision it. but that said, it's really going to depend on when the afghan troops are ready to take on full rein. >> the president did write a letter to hamid karzai today. there was no apology in that letter. susan rice said there wouldn't be an apology, there was no apology in that letter when she joined us, the president's national security advisor. thanks for that update. coming up, how dangerous is the nuclear option unleashed by senate democrats today? we will talk about it. the "crossfire" host newt gingrich and stephanie cutter are here.

also, frank rooney of the "new york times" is here as well. and president obama's stunning new poll numbers. guess what? our brand new poll is out. he's got the lowest approval numbers since he took office. we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

we have a new cnn/orc poll numbers just coming in. they paint a grim picture for president obama. let's discuss what's going on. our "crossfire" co-hosts are joining us, the former gop house speaker newt gingrich, former obama campaign official, white house official, stephanie cutter, along with the "new york times" columnist, frank bruney. let me get your quick reaction before i go to our "crossfire" co-hosts. here's the new numbers in this new cnn/orc poll. how is president obama handling his job as president? 41% approve, 56% disapprove. if you take a look at the trend since may, it's gone down. 53% approved of the job he was doing back in may, went down to 45%, 44%, now 41%. other polls show it a bit lower but within the margin of error. he's got a big problem here,

doesn't he? >> yeah, he's got a terrible problem. he's got terrible approval ratings. this is nothing new. this has been going this way for a couple months. it raises big questions about how much he's going to be able to do in his second term. i don't think we can divorce these poll numbers we're talking about from the nuclear option thing that happened today. he's looking at a second term in which there are big questions about what he can get done and what harry reid has done in the senate right now is clear a path for him at least to do some stuff along those lines. >> he's going to get some stuff done, mr. speaker, newt, he's going to get some stuff done now. he'll get a lot of appointments confirmed because he only needs 51 votes, the democrats have 55 majority to 45 republicans in the senate. so frank's right. he's going to get something accomplished. >> no question that in terms of increasing the power of the president, this is a very important moment. if you watch the president today, he didn't start by talking about judges. he started by talking about everything else. so you have to assume this is the beginning of the end of the filibuster and in a sense, the

beginning of the end of the senate -- >> because right now, the filibuster only deals with executive branch and judicial branch nominees. doesn't deal with legislation. but what are you saying? >> almost nothing in his statement dealt with nominations. he started talking about all the things he wanted to get through and it suggested to me this is the beginning of -- >> is he going to do that, expand and eliminate the filibuster on everything? >> who knows. there are important facts here we're ignorinignoring. the reason why today happened is the republican minority in the senate, of all of the filibusters in the history of the senate, almost half of them have happened under this republican minority, over the past five years since the president has come into office. that's an abuse of power. i think that it's unfortunate it came to this. nobody wanted this to happen. i'm a firm believer in the power of the senate as the cooling saucer and the importance of the filibuster in ensuring we're making the right policy decisions but what republicans have done here is egregious. >> what does it say about the president of the united states,

he came into office saying there would be a new washington, there would be bipartisan cooperation -- >> he doesn't have any partners for it. >> -- we would work together and this is something he strongly, when he was a senator -- >> i agree. in fact, i worked on the campaign to avert the nuclear option in 2005 he was speaking about. things were different back then. yes, there was the use of the filibuster but nothing like what you're seeing right now. it is basically, it's put a stop to the president's ability to fill judicial nominations which is a constitutional -- >> let me bring frank in. >> stephanie has a point. truth is, the democrats are doing the same thing to bush. >> not athis level. >> it's pretty egregious against bush also. the key thing is this. the senate is an institution, has been profoundly changed, i don't think it will ever go back and once you start down the road of unraveling the filibuster, you have eliminated what stephanie correctly referred to, the cooling saucer of the founding fathers wanted it to

be. >> remember last time we averted the nuclear option because democrats and republicans came together and democrats agreed to take somewhat we would consider to be some pretty bad judges -- >> let me let frank get into this. who's to blame here for this? because a lot of folks think the democrats could be in the minority one of these days and they will potentially rue this day today. >> you say they could be in the minority some day. gloria said earlier in the show something that made my ears perk up and really important and interesting which is this takes the 2014 midterms and makes what were going to be fascinating, hugely important midterms all the more fascinating and important. the fight for control of the senate in the midterms just got much more intense, because with these new rules and with the precedent that's been established, the value of being the majority party just got all that much bigger. >> stephanie, listen to the president. when he was a junior senator from illinois, 2005, he sounded 180 degrees different on the nuclear option than he sounded today. i'll play this clip. >> i remember it.

>> if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party, and the millions of americans who ask us to be their voice, i fear that the already partisan atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything. >> was he right then or is he right today? he's saying exactly the opposite today than he said then. >> what he was predicting actually happened. the atmosphere in the senate is so poisoned because of the minority party that absolutely nothing is getting done. it has ground to a halt. republicans have taken this to a whole new level. now, my, you know, guess is that nobody would want to take the vote they took today, but republicans, half of the filibusters in the history of the senate are under this minority right now. >> if people want to understand why the atmosphere is poisoned, part of it is the relentless need of the democrats to explain it's always the republicans. >> do you think it has anything to do with republicans? >> it has to do with both

parties. in terms of hypocrisy, the republicans were going to exercise the option when it was theirs and it was averted by a compromise. now they are against the very thing they were going to do. i just think we have seen for the last 10 or 12 years the senate on a bipartisan basis has decayed. the interesting side note -- >> let me do a dissent and i will let frank respond and let stephanie get into this. when you say nothing is being done in the senate, you didn't say it, stephanie said it, look, the senate passed comprehensive immigration reform, bipartisan, they sent it to the house where it sits right now. they passed legislation to make sure that gays and lesbians, transgenders, do not have discrimination. they passed that, sent it over. they have been doing stuff in the senate. it hasn't simply been stalemate. >> you raised a great point. the senate has gotten some things done. washington doesn't get much done because a lot of the things you're talking about in the senate -- >> but the senate, that's what i was saying. to say that the senate has been

just terrible, that's not true. >> that's why this is particularly sad, because the senate we have often held up as something that at least gives us a ray of hope when we look at the house, and what happened today says that in the senate, the mood is no, we can't get along. this feels to me almost inevitable. we are all acting with great shock and outrage or concern today, but we had debt ceiling brinksmanship like we have never seen before, we are coming off a federal shutdown. in some ways when this happened today, i thought this is the logical conclusion to all of that. >> let me let stephanie respond. the senate have been doing stuff on foreign policy, even now you have senator rand paul, senator ted cruz, working with democratic senator kirsten gillibrand to get some new rules to fight sexual assault in the military. so to say that nothing is being done in the senate, you want to revise and amend that comment? >> wolf, today's rule change was about nominations and look, the head of the consumer financial product bureau, the nominee for that, sat there for two years because the republican minority was blocking him.

republican minority is refusing to let the president have any nominations -- let me finish. back to my point. the filibuster is used by both parties. both parties are hypocrites on it. but the point here is that republicans have taken it to a new level. half of all filibusters in the history of the senate have happened under this republican senate. that's an important point. those numbers are high. >> some of it is absolute baloneyy because some of the filibusters were for one day -- >> use of the filibuster. >> every democratic senator in a marginal race next year just walked the plank except mark warner. every one of them just gave -- >> hold on one second. i want frank to respond. this is the speaker of the house, john boehner. he went to his computer today to sign up for the affordable care act because he's got to get health insurance. there he is. he sends out a note, he says earlier this afternoon i sat down to try and enroll in the d.c. exchange under the president's health care law,

like many americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. after putting in my personal information, i received an error message. i was able to work past that, but when i went to actually sign up for coverage, i got this. internal server error screen. all right. give me your quick reaction, frank. >> well, that's what a lot of americans are experiencing and the republicans are riding this very, very hard. you know, the obama care rollout has been disastrous and it's still hard to believe that something this important and this much a part of his legacy and this important to the administration got handled this way, and what john boehner is doing is what we know all republicans are doing right now, and there's a great front page story in the "times" today about it, they are riding this for all it's worth looking ahead to the 2014 midterms which will be really interesting. >> very good article in the "new york times" front page today. frank, thanks very much. newt, stephanie, guys, thanks to you as well. by the way, newt and stephanie will be back less than an hour from now with an in-depth look at this nuclear option along

with senators who voted both for and against it. that's coming up on cnn's "crossfire" at 6:30 p.m. eastern. up next, george zimmerman's estranged wife speaks out. she says she has new doubts about what really happened the night trayvon martin was killed. ♪

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george zimmerman's estranged wife shelley zimmerman spoke out about her soon-to-be former husband in an interview with katie couric just a little while ago. listen to what she is now saying. >> i think when people hear of all these incidents following the trial, it does cast further doubt on his actions that night. >> sure. >> do you feel that way? >> yes. >> does it cast further doubt for you? >> further doubt, yes, absolutely.

>> but yet? >> it casts a lot of doubt, like you said, because like i have said, i don't know the person that i've been married to so of course, i'm going to have questions and doubts but i wasn't there that night. >> let's bring in sunny hostin and jeffrey toobin, our senior legal analyst. sunny, first to you. when you hear shellie zimmerman say that, she now has doubts, she was by his side throughout that entire trial, during that entire process, but now she has doubts. that's pretty significant. >> i really think it is, and i mean, this isn't the first time she's said this. she's said before she doesn't know or understand the man that she's been married to for the past seven years. but i think everyone has questions now about george zimmerman, given his behavior since his acquittal. we were talking about now three women, not one, not two, but three women that are accusing him of domestic violence, including shellie zimmerman.

so when someone is exhibiting violent behavior, i think it certainly does call into question the fact that he was acquitted of violent behavior. >> let me play another clip. she's now the estranged wife. jeffrey, listen to this. this is shellie zimmerman once again with katie couric. >> i found out that he was lying about a lot of things, and he became like a pacing lion, very unpredictable. every single day, it was like adrenaline going through my body constantly, not knowing what it was going to be like from day to day. >> jeffrey, from a legal standpoint, does any of this matter? >> well, certainly the trayvon martin case is over. that can't be reopened. he can't be prosecuted for it. you know, what's frustrating about hearing this is if there

was evidence that could have been relevant to the jury in the trayvon martin case, it would have been nice to hear it when it still mattered. her statement is sufficiently vague that it's hard to know whether it would be admissible evidence and of course, she was his wife at that point, but still, if there was evidence of things he said, about his temper, about his behavior on the night in question, it sure would have been good to hear it then instead of on a talk show. >> jeffrey toobin, sunny hostin, thanks very much. just ahead, i will speak live with senator john mccain. we will talk about democrats triggering the so-called nuclear option on the senate floor today. and a huge change possibly in store for your future flights. twins. i didn't see them coming.

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here's a look at some of the other stories.

a jumbo jet that mistakenly landed at the wrong airport in kansas took off without incident from a runway far shorter than it normally requires. the dreamlifter was originally bound for mcconnell air force base, but it was going from new york's jfk but missed its mark by 12 miles. these two people are dead and as as many as 30 trapped after the roof of a shopping mall lapsed in the capital city of latvia. building materials stored on the roof are to blame, they say. a proposal would allow airlines passengers to make cell phones calls on some planes. current fcc rules prohibit passengers from citing potential interference with wireless networks on the ground. coming up, senator john mccain warns that invoking the option will come at a huge price. we'll discuss hi anger.

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ask your health care provider about novolog® flexpen today. sdploot jean-claude van damme's epic split is now going viral. here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: jean-claude van damme is a leg man, he especially admires his own. >> a pair of legs engineered to defy the laws of physics. >> reporter: when he did one of his trademark splits stretches from one volvo truck to another. ♪ who can say where the road goes ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it got millions of views, even though he was wearing an unseen safety harness. now he's getting parodies. there's mayor rob ford. >> what you see is a buddy crafted to perfection. >> reporter: and they seamlessly swapped heads. ♪ who can say where the road

goes ♪ >> reporter: there are animated parodies, even a parody celebrates stretchy pants. you can hear them creek. the most celebrated parody so far features channing tatum. he's doing a split between two food carts on the set of his latest movie. >> oh, you [ bleep ]. >> reporter: bet you didn't know newt tella can be split. >> we can never be spread too thin. >> reporter: that and his 10-year-old son dreamed up with one. so maybe not all of those parody splits are what you would call side-splitting. but somehow only time, sung by annia, makes anything seem sort of funny. there are plenty of pratt falls. from skateboards and toy trucks.

and chairs. the one split we haven't seen is split pants. a comedy duo from south africa did their take, features hippo and croc driving the trucks. >> they can drive through? i'm going to get some bacon. >> do not. >> definitely going. i'll be back. >> reporter: let's not forget the banana split. ♪ and who can say ♪ >> reporter: the only way they all fit is in a split screen. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. happening now, radioactive reacafter senate democrats deploy the nuclear option. >> this was nothing more than a power grab. >> gridlock, gridlock, gridlock.

>> now there are no rules in the senate. >> enough is enough. the senate may look the same, but it just underwent a historic change in rules on approving many presidential nominees. republican senator john mccain will join us live this hour. he's clearly fuming, and he's warning that democrats may go even farther to change the rules to their liking. plus new efforts under way to try to free an 85-year-old american veteran now being held in north korea. just as he was ending what he called the trip of a lifetime, authorities in north korea mysteriously yanked him off a plane. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." after years of threats, the nuclear option is a reality in the senate right now. democrats blew up long-standing rules so they could stop republicans from blocking presidential judicial nominees.

now gop senators are going nuclear over losing a powerful tool for the minority party, the filibuster. under the new rules, it takes just 51 votes to end that stalling tactic, instead of 60. our senior white house correspondent brianna keilar is standing by, but let's go to our chief congressional correspondent dana bash. dana, this is a huge step for democrats. on both sides they've been thinking about doing this for decades. it could come back, though, to bite those democrats if they become the minority in the senate. >> reporter: it sure could. democrats know this could be a moment they could ultimately regret when they lose control of the senate. they're in the minority and if they have a republican in the white house, but they made the calculation that because the number of presidential nominees since the president has been in office has been spiked so much, that this was the best way to go forward. for a lot of reasons, most of them, as you can imagine political. they understand, though, if and

when the shoe is on the other foot, things could be very different. >> you know, dana, the democrats say they're doing this to make things work in the senate, but a lot of folks think this is only going to make that poisonous atmosphere up there even worse. >> reporter: it very well could. the only way we'll -- or maybe the best way to answer that is wait and see what the republicans are most likely to work with the democrats say. i could say already we're hearing from some of them. john mccain. lindsey graham, who have worked across the aisle on controversial legislation, are already saying this will have a chilling effect on that. the other potential thing that could happen from this, wolf, is that although this deal, this change doesn't include supreme court nominees, it's a slippery slope. it could in the future. somebody could say i want to change the rules for that, or it could ultimately be changed for legislation, preventing the

minority from blocking legislation, which would really change the way the senate is run and you wouldly the way things are done in wavgt. >> the ramifications are huge. john mccain will join us this hour. let's bring in brianna keilar. the president knew there would be fallout. he supported this move by the democrats in the senate to use the nuclear option, and he came into the briefing room to explain why. tell us what he said. >> wolf, he's been very frustrated. that's not been a secret for a very long time, frustrated by not being able to fill these appointments in his administration, and also they judicial appointments that really, and it's true, by -- when you look at the numbers, he has had more appointments blocked by the opposing party than any other president. here's how he explained this today. >> it's not what our founders envisioned. a deliberate and determined effort to obstruct everything, no matter what the merits, just

to refight the results of an election, is not normal. and for the sake of future generations, we can't let it become normal. the vote today i think is an indication that a majority of senators believe, as i believe, that enough is enough. >> reporter: now, the last few weeks here were really the breaking point. three appointments block the d.y. circuit court of appeals chrks because it considers important federal matters, is considered second in importance only to the supreme court. of course, wolf, there's also another thing going on here, and that's this is, in a way, some drama that may be welcomed, as the president's administration is really sort of getting piled on because of the status of the obama care website. still not up and running, they're looking at a deadline at the end of the month and it's dragging down the president's approval ratings. they're looking for anything to change the subject. >> including in our new poll

that we released today. the president on this issue of using the nuclear option, brianna, in a very different view when he was a senator from illino illinois. >> reporter: that's right. he did. he made his view known on the senate floor in 2005 against this nuclear option. he made it very clear he was against it then. he talked about why it's an important tool for the minority that the filibuster is a very important tool. here's what he said. >> but if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party and the millions of americans who ask us to be their voice, i fear that the already partisan atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything. that doesn't serve anyone's best interests and certainly isn't what the patriots who founded this democracy had in mind. we owe the people who sent us here more than that. we hope them much more. >> reporter: it may seem

hypocrite cal to the statement today, but white house officials say it's different now, that this ballooning opposition to the president's appointments, unprecedented opposition really tips the scale in favor of the nuclear option, and that's what's different. you just heard dana talk about the double-edged sword here, if democrats are in the minority what this will mean for them. it's interesting. i asked josh earnest, white house spokesman if this is considered by president obama to be a temporary fix or permanent solution, and he couldn't say. >> all right. brianna keilar at the white house, thanks very much. coming up, senator john mccain is standing by to join us live here in "the situation room." as you can expect, he's pretty furious about the use of this nuclear option, and he's warning it will backfire on democrats. >> they will pay a very heavy price for it. i started part-time, now i'm a manager.n. my employer matches my charitable giving. really.

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get 50% off new brake pads and shoes. senator joh mccain is warning that this could come back to haunt them, the nuclear option. the arizona republican is joining us from capitol hill. senator, thanks very much. when you say this could come back to haunt the democrats, quickly explain what you have in mind. >> well if, and by chance the 2014 elections give us the majority in the united states senate, which the scenario is certainly out there, i'm not predicting it, but then obviously they could see a reversal of roles, and if in 2016 we elected a republican president, then you would see people, well, you know there was

judge bork that was blocked, and a number of high visibility possibility, john bolton and many others that obviously would only require 51 votes. but more than that, this -- i read on the floor of the senate today a letter that robert berg wrote three months before he died, about the absolute necessity of preserving the rights of the minority and how that was really the essence of the united states senate. i wish every one of my colleagues, particularly the newer ones, remember that over 60% of the members of the senate have in their six years or less, they could have heard his words. >> listen to the words of president obama today in justifies what they did. >> i realize that neither party has been blam liz for these tactics. they have developed over years,

and it seems that they tunnelly escalated, but today's pattern of obstruction, it just isn't norm normal. >> is he right? >> well, you know, again i guess it's not where you stand, but where you sit. then senator obama in 2005 said if the right of free and open debate is taken away from the minority party and the millions of americans who asked us to be their voice, i fear that the already partisan atmosphere in washington will be poisoned to the point where no one will be able to agree on anything, blah blah blah, we owe the people who sent us here more than that. >> what he's saying -- what i think he's saying, with the three openings on the d.c. court of appeals, and not because these three candidates that he nominated were disqualified or not appropriate, but simply

because the republicans didn't want to fill these seats and give the democrats a bit more power in the judicial branch, they went ahead and obstructed to delay the nomination. is that right? >> that is correct. if you might look at the record, a few years ago, the democrats, senator leahy, then senator obama, and senator reid did the exact same thing. >> just because the democrats did it then, is it okay for republicans to do it now? >> no, i don't think it's okay. i don't think it was okay to do it then. i don't think it's a reason to invoke the nuclear option now, wolf. i would argue that 99% of the nominees have been approved by republicans. it's been a very, very small number, less than 1%. that have been eventually not --

there have been advice and consent. now we have taken away from that part of the constitution that requires the senate to have that prerogative. >> you worked with the democrats in the senate recent weeks on comprehensive reform, on avoiding discrimination. you passed some bipartisan legislation. i know you tried to avoid this nuclear option. you met with him several times. listen to what harry reid said today. >> the most important distinction is those willing to solve the problem and those who defend the status quo. how could anyone in good conscience defend the status quo? >> i know you aren't defending it, but i want a little more elaboration on how they will pay. the president will get over the next three years, assuming the democrats stay in the majority, all of the executive branch and

judicial branch nominees cleared. >> well, believe it or not there's still quite a bit of legislation that goes through the senate, and it's done on the basis of people's agreement and work with one another across the aisle. there are going to be difficulties from time to time, where cooperation was probably the case in the past, and will not be now, but right now republicans are going to -- republicans are going to focus on obama care. we're not going to be diverted by this, we're not going to shut down the senate, we're not going to do any of those things, we're going to focus on repairing obama care. >> when you say repair, does that mean repeal? delay? what does "repair" mean? >> i think it means to put in provisions that are free market oriented that are not social engineering taking money from people who are young and well and giving it to older people,

and revamping a system that badly needs to be restructured so that we can do as the president promised, and that's bend the cost care curve down and provide health insurance for every american. we can do that, but not with obama care. >> when you said earlier today this changes everything, the use of the nuclear option by harry reid and the democrats, does it -- i'm trying to get some clarification right now. will you find bipartisan opportunities to work with democrats to get important legislation passed? >> i will when it's in the interests of the country. when it's solely to the interests of the democrats, then i think there's going to be significant difficulty. look, i've built up friendships over the last many years with members on the other side of the aisle. i'm very close to carl leave and many others. it puts a strain on everything, but most importantly the damage

that it's done to the institution is far more severe than what has been done to either party. that's why everybody should read robert byrd's letter. i'm more worried about the damage to the institution that i am frankly to the relationships. >> there are some suggesting the killing of the filibuster, if you will, on judicial and legislative braj nominees could be expanded to also go into legislation itself, are you among those worried about that so-called slippery slope? >> i'm very worried about it, and it seems logical that if they're frustrated by the judicial 234078 knees, they are also frustrated by the various parliamentary procedures that hinder legislation from moving forward on the floor of the senate. i'm very worried they will make that decision on that aspect of it as well. we might as well merge the senate and the house of representatives. >> because some people are

already saying the sentence could turn out to be like the house, where a simple majority rules the day. before i let you go, senator, this deals that seems to be in the works in geneva right now to allow some easing of u.s. sanctions, as far as iran is concern, in exchange for more transparency, a freeze of their nuclear program, you and a bunch of others are working to strengthen, to heighten some of those sanctions, and the administration says if you do that, that will kill this deal. >> well, we have grave concerns about the provisions of this bill. i share the concerns of the prime minister of israel. we would like to see, among other things the iranians acknowledge they do not have the right -- certain rights that they think that they have, that we think that the centrifuges could be dismantled, not sdwrus

stopped. we are giving them some relief and they are just pausing. we have grave concerns, and we will be looking at what happens here in the next couple weeks. we're going to go out of session, as you know in geneva, but there are grave concerns among my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. the right to enrich is one of those that we're concerned about. >> you were at the white house the other day, with a bunch of senators, you met with the president, right? >> yes. >> did he make a convincing case to you? >> he made a case, but not strong enough to convince me yet, but i would glad to see what their latest negotiating positions are, but not forcing them to renounce the right to enrich i think is a fundamental part of it, because they have lied, prerare indicated and deceived. remember, the president of now that they call a good guy was also the same guy that was their

negotiator between 2000 and 20003 that bragged in an interview how he deceived the negotiators, and obviously the ayatollah's comments yesterday were as harsh as we've heard from him in a long time. >> senator mccain, thanks very much for coming in. >> thanks for having me on, wolf. just ahead, the mysterious detention of an 85-year-old american in north korea. he's been held now for nearly a month. we'll tell you what u.s. officials are trying to do to get him out. stay with us.

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an elderly american mysteriously detained in north korea. brian todd is following the story. what's going on, brian? >> reporter: this man, merrill newman is a veteran of the korean war. his son and others believe something about that experience may well have played into this. he's an 85-year-old retired tech

company executive from palo alto, california, a longtime red cross volunteer, who had been looking forward to a trip to north korea with a friend. but merrill newman is now a captive in that oppressive country and has been for nearly a month. according to his son newman was near the end of an organized heavily monitored tour, when the subject of his status as a u.s. soldier in the korean war came up at a meeting with north korean officials. >> the korean war was discussed, and my dad's role in the service. the meeting concluded. i understand that my dad was a bit bothered. >> reporter: the next day, his son says, five minutes before they flight was to depart, he was pulled off the plane. his family hasn't heard from or about him since. what could have proceed vocced the north koreans to do this? this analyst said he could have set something that set them off. >> he could have said something

disparages about the north, he might have said something about the history, because again as the north koreans would have it, this was a war of national liberation. the north koreans have all kinds of laws to trot out, and with north korea, all prices are subject to change without notice. >> reporter: john kerry calls the detention disturbing. bill rich arson is working his north korean contacts to try to win his release. newman has a heart condition. kenneth bay, another american detained in north korea has diabetes and orel illnesses. >> pollack has the warning. >> the possible that one or two americans might die while being held unreasonably in captivity in north korea is a scenario that i would think that the north koreans would find deeply troubling. >> reporter: he says if that happens, the north koreans could lose a chance at any kind of renewed contact or cultural exchanges with the u.s., which they badly want. he says humanitarian groups,

which do so much to help the starving and sick people in north korea may cut that off. they also may lose some of that tourist money, wolf, that they crave. thank you very much, brian. "crossfire" starts right now. tonight on "crossfire" -- senate democrats take drastic action to help president obama get his way. >> we've seen an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in congress. >> is what they're calling the nuclear option good for either party or the country? >> if you like the rules of the senate, you can keep them. on the left, stephanie cutter. on the right, newt gingrich, in the crossfire, senator bernie sanders who vote fold today's rules change and senator john hoev hoeven, who voted against it. going nuclear, will it helple country or hurt? tonight on "crossfire." welcome to "crossfire."

i'm newt gingrich on the right. >> i'm stephanie cutter on the left. two senators who voted on opposite sides. before we bring in our guests, let's go to cnn's dana bash. dana, can you put the so-called nuclear option in plain english for us? it's kind of complicated. >> >> reporter:, and what it means in practical terms is unless one of president obama's nominees is truly controversial, he or she almost surely will get confirmed, as long as democrats are in control of the senate. the reason is because what democrats did is they changed the rules so that instead of a 6 on-vote threshold for nominees to get through to overcome a filibuster, it is now a 51-vote threshold, a simple majority. the reason it's called a nuclear option is because the shoe is not always on this foot. democrats, as you well know, stephanie, are often in the minority, not just the majority. this could come back to haunt them w